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John Reiss
John Reiss was an executive at McLennen-Forster, a defense contractor. Day 4 John Reiss was the Chief Technology Officer of McLennen-Forster, the third largest defense contractor in the United States. He worked there with Chief Executive Officer Gene McLennen and Head of Internal Security Dave Conlon. McLennen-Forster had many projects under its belt; among them, an electromagnetic pulse bomb that could be used for non-lethal military combat. More important, though, was a Dobson-type Override device. The Override was a combination of hardware and software that could remotely take control of the country's nuclear power facilities, developed under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's emergency management program. The employee in charge of this project was a middle management worker named Harris Barnes. When work on the prototype of the Override was completed, McLennen-Forster arranged for a courier named Brody and at least one bodyguard to transport it in a briefcase on a commuter train away from Los Angeles. En route, this train was derailed by Dar, a terrorist working for Navi Araz, and the Override prototype was taken. After Secretary of Defense James Heller was rescued, CTU found the McLennen-Forster briefcase at the warehouse where the Internet trial was being held, and contacted the company. McLennen wanted special clearance from the Department of Defense before disclosing anything, and once Heller made that happen, Reiss held a teleconference with Erin Driscoll, Sarah Gavin, Curtis Manning, and Jack Bauer at CTU. During the conference, he told them of the Override and its function, and realized that although the device was designed for protection, it could also be used to create a meltdown. Heller's Internet broadcast could have disguised any firewall hack during installation of the Override. Later, after the meltdowns were stopped, CTU phoned Reiss and said that they were bringing two people over, Jack Bauer and Paul Raines, to make an investigation. Reiss learned that Harris Barnes was actually a terrorist named Habib Marwan who had been running his operation from within the company, and Jack wanted to take a look at Marwan's directory. Paul came along because his company had designed and sold an IT system to McLennen-Forster, and he could maneuver through processes that Reiss and the others didn't know about. Reiss was convinced that the company's (albeit indirect) involvement with terrorist attacks would lead to its downfall, and went to Gene McLennen to voice his concerns. Reiss persuaded McLennen to let him and Dave Conlon take care of hiding the information to protect the company from exposure and themselves from serving possible prison time. When Jack and Paul arrived, Reiss led them to Marwan's workstation, then returned to the executive office to watch their progress. He and Conlon agreed that if worse came to worse, they would set off an unscheduled EMP, crippling the company's electronic files but saving it from being completely destroyed. Worse did indeed come to worse, and the EMP was charged. Reiss was confident that CTU would think Marwan was behind the pulse, but before the pulse discharged, Jack and Paul began printing something out, and Conlon went to stop them. The EMP went off, and the area was plunged into darkness. The conspiracy failed in the end, however, and the McLennen-Forster cover-up was revealed even before Bauer and CTU unraveled the terrorist plot. Reiss was presumably arrested afterwards. Live appearances Category:Characters Category:Day 4 characters Category:Day 4 antagonists Category:McLennen-Forster cover-up Category:Living characters